Abstract:
The use of different procurement contracting practices can negatively or positively influence service delivery in government owned entities. In competitive procurement contracting the provision of public services or products is awarded competitively. Competitive contracting has been used to ensure that goods and services of a defined quantity and quality are produced for the lowest possible cost. The success or failure of any alternative service delivery depends on how well governments can manage the entire contract process, from accessing the feasibility of contracting through implementation to monitoring and evaluation. The purpose of the study was an assessment of influence of competitive procurement practices on service delivery in public hospitals in Nakuru county Kenya. Specifically the study sought to establish bids placing, evaluation criteria suppliers‟ capacity and technology in bidding process on service delivery in public hospitals in Nakuru County Kenya. The target population was medical officer in charge of hospitals in Nakuru County, procurement officers and department head from user departments in sub-county hospital and referral hospital in Nakuru County. The study adopted census technique to incorporate all the targeted respondents, the study size was 5 procurement officers, 63 head of departments from user departments and 12 medical officers in charge of the selected hospitals. Structured questionnaire was used to collect the primary data desirable for the study. Qualitative data was analysed by use of content analysis and presented in a prose form.Quantitative data was analyzed by use of descriptive and inferential statistics through the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).Descriptive statistics included percentages, frequencies, measures of central tendencies (mean) and measures of dispersion (standard deviation).Data was presented in form of tables. The results indicate that bid placing (R = 0.758), evaluation criteria (R = 0.477), supplier capacity (R = 0.478) and technology (R = 0.649) has a positive correlation with service delivery. Therefore, the study concludes that bid placing, evaluation criteria, supplier capacity and technology have a positive influence on service delivery. The study recommends that public hospitals should formulate more policies to emphasize on the use of competitive procurement contracting practices as they will help to reduce corruption, ensure quality and low cost as well as improve service delivery. Public hospitals should only be evaluated in terms of the criteria stipulated in the bidding documents. Amending the evaluation criteria after closure of the bids should not be allowed, as this would jeopardize the fairness of the system. The study recommended that a replication of the above study should be carried out in another county in order to establish whether similar findings will be obtained.
